For horse owners the least glamorous job is that of cleaning the stalls, but you are always going to have horse manure as long as you have horses. How you clean your stall and the type of bedding and tools you choose to use will be determined by how often you keep your horse in their stall.

It is essential to keep the stall as clean as possible in order to prevent the animals from contracting any infections. You’ll also do this so there are no objects in the stall that can possibly or injure the animal. Almost all horse infections are related to injuries to the hooves as the result from a puncture wound or cut.

No one said cleaning the stall would be easy or exciting. You most definitely want to tend to it daily. If you don’t clean the stable daily, it is only a longer, harder and smellier job, especially on a hot and humid day. My advice is to strip the stall down to the bare floor and then let it have it dry out for at least a day. Then put down a new layer of bedding. Try to do this at least once a week.

If you believe that one of your horses has an infection in one of its hooves then first soak it in some Epson salt. This aids in healing some of the infection and swelling. If soaking the hoof isn’t causing the infection to get any better, call your veterinarian to check the infection for you.

Another very important health issue to worry about in a horse stall is fly control. You want to eliminate this pesky problem as quick as possible since flies are carriers of diseases and parasites. While horse fly sheets and masks work well for the horse, it’s still better overall to keep the stall itself free from flies and one way to make sure that happens is to keep the stall clean. Without any muck or manure around, the flies won’t have any reason to be there.

One method many horse owners employ is fly repellants. These chemicals can greatly decrease the amount of flies and larvae. It is important to note though that you need to be cautious with these types of chemicals since some horses can have allergies to some of the ingredients. I recommend looking to repellants which have all-natural ingredients.